NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Lecture #05

CE-212 - Mechanics of Solids

DEFLECTIONS IN BEAMS
INTRODUCTION

Bending in beams is accompanied by deflections and rotations.

Deflection

relates to the movement of the beams vertically downwards or

upwards, while rotation

relates to the angle of deformation. ( is also the slope of

the deflection curve, (

The comprehensive term displacement is used to indicate both deflection and rotation.

In addition to safety checks (e.g. limiting stresses), designers must avoid large
deflections which are associated with poor appearance and with too much flexibility.

Large deflections can render the structure unserviceable, or even endanger it or

neighbouring structures.

DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION OF THE ELASTIC DEFLECTION CUREVE

where

where

From previous knowledge

is the curvature of the beam.

Relates the curvature

to the moment

as

is the flexural rigidity of the beam. Combining both equations yields:

which is the basic differential equation of the elastic deflection curve. Fig. D1 depicts each of
these parameters for a simply supported beam loaded as shown.

1
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Eq. (D1) can be integrated (for a given beam load case) once to obtain the angle of
rotation or slope.

Then twice to obtain the deflection

(provided that the bending moment

is

known).

Therefore, the method is sometimes called the method of successive integration.

Often, both

and

are constant along the beam, which simplifies the integration of

eq. (D1).
Boundary Conditions

The integration of eq. (D1) yields constants, which can be determined by knowing the
boundary conditions (BC), i.e. prior knowledge of slope and deflection at given points
on the beam.

The sketch below depicts deflection and slope values for different boundary
conditions.

2
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Question: Determine the status of M ,

below.

Answer

3
By Dr. Huma Khalid

and at points A, B and C of the beam

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Example D1
Determine the maximum deflection of the cantilever beam shown below.

Solution

Select the x-axis and y-axis as shown above.

From eq. (D1),

. Therefore, the slope at any point on the cantilever can be

achieved by integration, i.e.:

4
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

The moment at any point on the beam (i.e. at distance

from the fixed support) is:

Note that the minus sign is because the load is acting downwards (i.e. in the negative y
direction). Substituting eq. (D3) into eq. (D2) yields:

where

is the integration constant.

By considering the boundary conditions of the beam, it is clear that

Substituting this back into eq. (D4) yields:

Substituting eq. (D5) into eq. (D4), thus:

which is the equation for the slope of the beam at any distance
Note that the equation shows that the maximum slope is at

from the fixed end.

, i.e. at the free end and is

equal to:

From eq. (D1),

. Now the deflection at any point on the beam can be obtained by

integrating the slope eq. (D6), i.e.:

where

is the integration constant.

5

By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

By considering the boundary conditions of the beam, it is clear that

= 0 at

=0.

Substituting this back into eq. (D8) yields:

Substituting eq. (D9) into eq. (D8), thus:

which is the equation for the deflection of the beam at any distance
The equation shows that the maximum deflection occurs at

from the fixed end.

, i.e.:

The negative sign simply indicates that the deflection is in the opposite direction to the
positive direction of the y-axis, as can be seen in Fig. D4.
Example D2
Determine the maximum deflection of the cantilever beam shown below.

Solution
It is important to realize that the maximum deflection does not necessarily occur at the
position of the load. The position of the maximum deflection can be found once the elastic
curve is defined in terms of

. The position of the maximum deflection can also be

determined intuitively, e.g. it is at point C in Fig. D5. Since the part BC of the beam will
deflect as a straight (but not horizontal) line.
6
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Select the x-axis and y-axis as shown above. From eq. (D2), the slope at any point on the
cantilever can be achieved by integration, i.e.

The moment at any point on the beam (i.e. at distance x from the fixed support) is:

7
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

where

is the integration constant. By considering the boundary conditions, it is clear that

= 0 at

= 0 (note that the bracket

is positive for

, thus will be retained).

Substituting this back into eq. (D14) yields:

Substituting eq. (D15) into eq. (D14), thus:

which is the equation for the slope of the beam at any distance
that the equation shows that the maximum slope is at

from the fixed end. Note

(recalling that the bracket is

ignored when it is negative), i.e. in the region BC. Note that BC is a straight line which has
the same slope throughout.
The maximum slope is:

Now the deflection at any point on the beam can be obtained by integrating the slope eq.
(D16):

where

is the integration constant. By considering the boundary conditions of the beam, it is

clear that

(the bracket will be retained since it is positive for this case).

Substituting this back into eq. (D18) yields:

Substituting eq. (D19) into eq. (D18), thus:

8
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

which is the equation for the deflection of the beam at any distance
equation shows that the maximum deflection occurs at

from the fixed end. The

(note that the bracket will be

ignored for this case since it is negative), i.e.:

The negative sign simply indicates that the deflection is in the opposite direction to the
positive direction of the y axis, as can be seen in Fig. D6.
Example D3
Determine the maximum deflection of the simply supported beam shown below
.

Solution
It is important to realize that the maximum deflection does not necessarily occur at the
position of the load, nor at mid span (the maximum deflection is at these locations usually
when there is symmetry of loading).
The position of the maximum deflection can be found by determining the value of
gives
This value of

that

, i.e. the point at which the slope is zero (indicating horizontal tangent).
is then substituted in the deflection equation to obtain the maximum

deflection.

9
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Select the x-axis and y-axis as shown above. From eq. (D2), the slope at any point on the
beam can be achieved by integration, i.e.

The moment at any point on the beam (i.e. at distance

where

from the fixed support) is:

is the support reaction at C (note that it is acting upwards, i.e. in the positive

direction, hence it is positive).

This reaction can be determined from equilibrium by taking moments about support A, i.e.:

Substituting that into eq. (D23):

10
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Therefore, the slope equation is:

where

is the integration constant. By considering the boundary conditions of the beam, it

is clear that it is easier to consider

location of

rather than try to spot the

which is not intuitively clear.

Thus, it is more convenient to perform the successive integration with the two integration
constants being determined afterwards. The deflection at any point can be obtained by
integrating the slope eq. (D26), i.e.:

where

is the integration constant. Considering the boundary conditions,

(the bracket will be retained for

negative).
Substituting this back into eq. (D27) yields:

also

11
By Dr. Huma Khalid

and ignored for

since it is

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Substituting eqs. (D28a and b) into eq. (D27), thus the deflection of the beam at any distance
is:

Substituting eq. (D28b) into eq. (D26), thus the slope at any distance

is:

Now the maximum deflection can be determined by setting

in eq. (D30) and then

solving the equation for

(note that the brackets will be retained since, by inspection, the

maximum deflection is between points A and B when

). By doing so, the value of

Substituting this into eq. (D29), the maximum deflection is:

Example D4
Determine the maximum deflection of the simply supported beam shown below.

12
By Dr. Huma Khalid

is:

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Solution

Select the x-axis and y-axis as shown above. From symmetry the maximum deflection is at
the mid span. From symmetry also the reactions at A and B are equal and are half the total
load, i.e.:

Thus, the moment at any point on the beam (i.e. at distance

from A) is:

From eq. (D2), the slope at any point on the cantilever can be achieved by integration, i.e.
13
By Dr. Huma Khalid

NED University of Engineering & Technology

where

Department of Petroleum Engineering

is the integration constant.

By considering the boundary conditions of the beam, it is clear that it is easier to consider
rather than try to spot the location of

which is not

intuitively clear.
Therefore, it is more convenient to carry out the second integration and then the two
integration constants will be determined subsequently. The deflection at any point on the
beam can be obtained by integrating the slope eq. (D35), i.e.:

where

is the integration constant.

By considering the boundary conditions of the beam,

and

substituting this back into eq. (D36):

also

Substituting eqs. (D37a and b) into eq. (D36), thus the deflection of the beam at any distance
is:

Now the maximum deflection can be determined by setting

14
By Dr. Huma Khalid

in eq. (D38), i.e.:

NED University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering

The negative sign simply indicates that the deflection is in the opposite direction to the
positive direction of the y-axis, as can be seen in Fig. D11.
EXAMPLE PROBLEMS
1. Determine the maximum deflection of the beam below.

2. Determine the maximum deflection of the beam below.

3. Determine the maximum deflection of the beam shown below.

15
By Dr. Huma Khalid